carbide joiner blades?

I bought a Delta Shopmaster 6" joiner from Lowes. Seems to be a weekend
warrior grade tool. It does a fine job finishing the edges of plexi.
However, I seem to get a couple hundred feet from the blade before I have to
move the fence to a cleaner section. Secondly I hear diamond blades or
perhaps carbide will give me even a cleaner glass like edge.
Secondly, If I have to edge anything longer than 4 foot, the short table is
a hindrance, I can graduate up to a better model if needed.
Thanks!

plexi will be hard on the cutters. carbide may be called for.
if you're not going to be using this machine for woodworking, just for
the edge of plexiglas, you don't need the width of a larger machine,
but it sounds like you could use longer tables. there are a few long
bed 6" jointers out there, I think. IIRC, powermatic offers one. you
might be able to get it with a spiral array indexed carbide cutterhead,
which should perform beautifully for your application.
alternately, you could set yourself up with a long router table and
offset fence with a spiral carbide cutter. it will take up a bit more
floor space in your shop, but it will likely make handling the sheets
easier, do at least as good a job and cost a lot less.

First, have you considered using a router table? You can make
your own with the table as long as you need. Carbide router bits
also cost considerably less than jointer blades.
Second, if the edge isn't going to be glued then flame polishing
will give a glass smooth edge. This is tricky to do and requires
practice but once you get the hang of it it's fast and easy. It will
round the edge slightly making for poor glue joints.
Art

That's a good idea. I'll have to research some table plans.
I don't like flame polishing because the stresses that are setup in the
material. You may have noticed in restaurants and other businesses where the
edges have cracks forming because the case was cleaned with some chemical
that caused the edges to crack. To see what I mean, flame polish an edge,
let it cool and dip it into alcohol. As the alcohol dries it will start to
form cracks! No effect on hand polished edges unless too much heat was
generated during buffing. Annealing the material at 170 Deg F for one hour
per mm of thickness and slow cooling (more hours) is the recommended way to
relieve stresses from flame polishing. Hardly anyone does this because of
the time involved. Time is money. Incorrect saw blade usage can cause
stresses as well.
Running the material through the joiner at a very slow rate will yield a
glossy edge that needs minimal polishing to yield a glass smooth edge.
S

That's a good idea. I'll have to research some table plans.
I don't like flame polishing because the stresses that are setup in the
material. You may have noticed in restaurants and other businesses where the
edges have cracks forming because the case was cleaned with some chemical
that caused the edges to crack. To see what I mean, flame polish an edge,
let it cool and dip it into alcohol. As the alcohol dries it will start to
form cracks! No effect on hand polished edges unless too much heat was
generated during buffing. Annealing the material at 170 Deg F for one hour
per mm of thickness and slow cooling (more hours) is the recommended way to
relieve stresses from flame polishing. Hardly anyone does this because of
the time involved. Time is money. Incorrect saw blade usage can cause
stresses as well.
Running the material through the joiner at a very slow rate will yield a
glossy edge that needs minimal polishing to yield a glass smooth edge.
S

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